Residents and businesses hunkered down in Hong Kong and at least 10 cities in southern China on Tuesday as Super Typhoon Ragasa, the most powerful tropical cyclone of the year, barreled toward land.
Authorities urged residents to stay in their homes, where people taped up windows to protect against high winds. Supermarket shelves emptied in some areas as panicked residents stocked up on supplies.
Packing winds of up to 220 km per hour, or 137 miles per hour, Ragasa is expected to pass around 100 km to the south of Hong Kong on Wednesday, the Hong Kong Observatory reported just before 1 a.m. local time.
Residents should prepare for “heavy squally showers and thunderstorms” and “overtopping waves over the shoreline,” particularly on the eastern and southern coasts, the Observatory said.
A reporter for Agence France-Presse saw waves nearly five meters high crash into the seaside promenade of the city’s Heng Fa Chuen residential district around nightfall.
The storm is expected to make landfall from midday to late Wednesday along the coast of Guangdong, where authorities evacuated more than 770,000 people, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
On Monday, Ragasa tore through the northern Philippines, where thousands sought shelter in schools and evacuation centers. In Taiwan, officials said that 30 people were missing in the eastern county of Hualien, where a barrier lake in the mountains burst as Ragasa stormed through.
Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.